J&J puts focus on disease prevention and interception

Johnson & Johnson has unveiled three new research platforms focused on “redefining healthcare”, looking at disease prevention and interception, plus the role of the microbiome.

The new teams will collaborate with J&J unit Janssen's five therapeutic areas as well as external partners “to underpin ongoing research and propel scientific knowledge in these areas of significant potential to change the way diseases are managed”.

First up, the Janssen Prevention Center, headquartered in the Netherlands will focus on preventing diseases uch as Alzheimer's, heart, cancer and autoimmune disease. The Disease Interception Accelerator will explore the origins of diseases, including type 1 diabetes, such as genetic predisposition, environmental exposure and phenotypic alterations, and try to pre-empt them.

Thirdly, the Janssen Human Microbiome Institute will study the microbiome, the diverse bacteria living in and on the body which is increasingly recognised to play a crucial role in human health.

William Hait, global head of Janssen R&D, said the future of healthcare will “increasingly depend on identifying and correctly interpreting the earliest signals of disease susceptibility, preventing or intercepting disease before it even begins, and using the latest scientific insights from promising, emerging fields like the microbiome, to transform medicine”. He added that by advancing science in these areas, “our new research platforms will strive to deliver the next generation of transformational medical innovation”.